Fickle Magick
by ShadowCloud01
Summary: Magic is unpredictable. One never knows the effects it might have until it's too late.


Harry frowned as he re-organized the runes in the air in front of him. The rune matrix had to be perfect, but he was having a little trouble with the organization. He didn't want thousands of books of different subjects written by different authors to be mixed or anything. He waved his wand in a swift motion, switching the runes for preservation and light when he got an idea.

With a quick jab and a flutter of hundreds of translucent floating runes, he made a cube of pure magic. With another wave of his wand, the cube moved like a rubik's cube on overdrive, all the while glowing all the colors of the rainbow.

Harry grinned tiredly and waved his wand one last time. The Cube, still moving and rotating, floated lower and lower until it touched a brown leather bound book and sank into its pages. The book glowed the same as the cube for a second before returning to normal.

Harry sighed and slumped unto the rickety chair behind him, completely exhausted. Sleep deprivation was finally taking its hold after countless sleepless days. He cracked his eyes open, he hadn't even known he had closed them, and stood up for the last part; the book merging. Thankfully, this part was easy, with no mental challenge whatsoever.

He flicked his wand at each and every trunk in the room. After all of them were open, he made a wide ark with his wand. The books inside the trunks started to float. He waved his wand in a circular position before ending the circle by pointing at the grimoire. All of the books swirled around the room and, one by one, stopped above the grimoire. The letters of each and every tome separated from their pages and floated in the air only to be absorbed into the grimoire seconds later.

It took half an hour, which was a miracle with so many books, for all the books and tomes to be empty of any and all words. Harry quickly sat, black spots swimming in his eyes. He breathed harshly, complete exhaustion running him dry. He couldn't do anything else or else he might slip into a magical exhaustion induced coma. He was running dry, completely dependent of his reserves.

"I'm just going to sleep here…" He muttered softly to himself. He closed his eyes for only a moment only to snap them open a second later when the heavy metal door of the room snapped open. Luna came running in not even a second later, a fearful expression in her face. Her face told him everything before she did.

"They're here!" Luna exclaimed, her voice fearful and yet defiant at the same time. 'Good' He though. 'Never let them drive the fire from you Luna'.

"Where are they?" He asked, already standing up. He could slip into a coma later, now he had to fight. Luna closed her eyes seemingly concentrating. She opened them a moment later. Her face slipped into a confident expression.

"They haven't disabled the wards yet" She said before smirking slightly. "They are almost at the Anti-Apparition ward." Harry frowned slightly at her smirk.

"Did you add something to the ward?" He asked. Adding charms, hexes or curses to wards was incredibly difficult, with the whole concept of spell weaving and curse breaking thrown in there, and, as far as Harry could tell, Luna was the best when it came to it. She smirked widely.

"I added a Blood Clotting Charm into the ward" She said, smirking. "The poor bastard that breaks that ward will be in a whole lot of trouble if there is no healer in the group."

Harry smiled tiredly at the thought. They had been running for two years, two whole years barely scrapping by with nothing but magic and their wits, because the Wizarding World could not and would not accept that Harry Potter, the Savior, the Chosen One, had used dark magic in the war. It did not matter that he had saved them from peril and gotten rid of the worst Dark Lord in the history of wizard kind. What mattered was that he had used dark magic and he should be prosecuted because of it.

Luna had been the one to suggest the idea to end the war, the one he learned alongside with when Ron and Hermione had backed out. She had been made to run with him when Ronald could not keep his mouth shut in an interview for the Daily Prophet. Harry had known Ron was a glory hound, starved for the spot light, but to condemn Luna to a life of nothing but running from the law? That had been a new low. At least he wasn't alone.

Luna cleared her throat, gaining Harry's attention. He looked at her tiredly. She motioned towards the door. "The potion is finished."

Harry stood in shock for a second before snapping into action. He grabbed the grimoire from the table, shrank it and threw it into his mokeskin pouch before running as fast as his exhausted form could carry him through the metal door and down the wooden stairs towards the basement; the only place where it was cold and damp enough for safe potions brewing.

"Harry, wait for me!" He heard Luna yell and slowed down a bit. There was no need to rush, after all. The Auror's would not be able to break in until maybe half an hour, more if they kept triggering the charms, curses and jinxed weaved in.

They both got to the basement at the same time. They entered the damp room and sat tiredly in the salt circle, both their eyes frozen on the shimmering cauldron.

"Let's begin" Luna said, breaking the silence. "The sooner we leave, the better."

Harry agreed with her, but he was so tired, both mentally and magically. He didn't know if he was magically up to doing the ritual. If he used too much magic, there was a chance he would die. With his mind full of doubt, he glanced at Luna. Almost immediately, he made a decision. He could not leave her alone, could not leave her to fare in wizarding prison by herself. He himself would be executed, he was sure. So he took a quick breath and stood up, his legs wobbling as he did so.

"Let's start."

Luna took out two vials from her sweaters pocket and handed him one. Harry took it and examined it with scrutiny. The potion was a dark purple a lighter purple swirling in the bottom. There was also a spinning helix of what seemed like golden sand in the middle.

Harry glanced at Luna. "Fairy Wings? Where did you get them?" Before Luna could answer, Harry quickly said "You know what? I don't want to know."

Luna pouted and uncorked the stopper. "They're crushed Fairy Wings. The journey will not be pleasant, at all. The pressure between the dimensions is enough to crush just about anything, except Fairies."

Harry gulped slightly as he looked at the swirling concoction in his hand. "So you added crushed Fairy Wings in the hopes that the particles will lend that same protection the Fairies have?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, but it was not the only reason. Fairies, true Fairies, are known dimension hoppers. It's second nature to them. The particles should, in theory, not only grant us the same protection, but also make the journey easier to navigate. I rather shudder to think what would happen if we left here only to arrive at an alternate instead of a completely different dimension." She explained before downing her potions and settling the vial outside the salt circle. "With it, we should be able to differentiate the different dimension for what they are. Not a conscious knowledge, but an instinctive one. At least, until the effects wear off."

She gave him a hard look before motioning towards his vial. "Drink up, and let's get the ritual started before the effects wear off."

Harry sighed warily, uncorked the stopper and gulped the concoction in a single gulp. It tasted horrible, just like every potion ever made, but he managed to keep his face straight. He quickly placed the empty vial outside the salt circle.

Harry nodded at Luna and smiled grimly.

"Let us begin"

They stood parallel each other, their wands pointed towards the each other. At the same time, they started drawing practiced runes in the air, their wands leaving a glowing residue in the air. The inside of the salt circle looked like it was surrounded by a dome of glowing swirly letters when they finished.

With that finished, they moved to stand by each other and motioned towards the cauldron with their wands. The concoction swirled into the air. With a few harsh and precise waves of their wands, the concoction had formed a flat ring. With a hard slash, the ring stayed midair on its own, the liquid rippled with the movement of the air.

Sweat was pouring down Harry's head. His vision was black spotted and his limbs were weak as never before. He was going to topple over soon, he just knew it. He gritted his teeth and bared with it. Luna glanced worriedly at Harry before continuing.

Twin lights burst from their wands and swirled into one before being sucked into the rippling mass.

Tempore et Spatio

Aperiat nobis ostium

Ad magicam loco

Ubi ostia universi mendacium

Unde volumus possumus aperire

Concorditer vivere et vivens

Their voices where strong as they chanted, or as strong as Harry could muster. The mass of liquid glowed a brilliant white before toning down into a golden glow. The swirling mass of magic bade away as two tentacles of light formed from the newly made portal.

This was it, Harry thought. The moment of truth. The tentacles 'grabbed' both him and Luna and sucked them into the portal just as the door to the room burst open.

The inside of the portal was a swirl of color. All the colors imaginable and many he had never seen before. Harry smiled exhausted and looked at Luna.

The last thing Harry saw before fainting was Luna's worried face.

* * *

Harry woke up to the sound and feel of water all around him. He opened his eyes slightly. The only thing his eyes could focus on was the enormous full moon up ahead. It was so pretty, so beautiful and majestic.

He could hear worried voices, but could not make up what they were saying. He could only make out the pumping of blood underneath his ear. His vision was overtaken by the face of a girl with golden blond hair and ocean blue eyes.

"Pretty…" Harry mumbled before slipping into unconsciousness.


End file.
